Fidget spinners are the latest craze that seemingly burst on the scene out
of nowhere, but our friends at America’s Freedom Fighters are sounding the alarm
that they may not be all fun and games.

It seems the gadgets, which employ ballbearings and balanced blades inside
plastic casing to spin, have been found in some cases to contain dangerous
amounts of lead and mercury.

All fidget spinners? Of course not. The problem, though, is that there are
no patents governing who can and can’t manufacture them, and little-to-no way
to confirm which ones are made under quality controls and which ones are from
places like China where anything goes.

AFF’s Brett MacDonald notes:

“Just last week, 200,000 units of of the popular
toy were seized by EU customs officials for failing to adhere to the health
standards set by the Union.

“Two were lead-free, but one had very high
levels of lead and some mercury. She then disassembled a fidget spinner with
LED lights and found both lead and mercury. She found 19,000 parts per million
(ppm) of lead and 1,000 ppm of mercury.

These numbers are sobering because scientists
consider under 90 ppm of lead to be the safe threshold in children’s toys,
according to Rubin. But the paint on the LED light spinner contained 334 ppm of
lead and 155 ppm of mercury in one test. The unpainted metal base contained
1,562 ppm of mercury and 2,452 ppm of lead.

Rubin later tested six more fidget spinners and
found a $31 from Yomaxer that contained 42,800 ppm of lead. She noted ordinary
consumers won’t have access to an XRF instrument, which can cost around
$50,000.

Wow, who expected 2017 would bring us a reminder of the days where parents
had to worry about the likes of lead paint on Matchbox cars? Of course, this
sort of problem isn’t as obsolete as we’d like to imagine; in 2015, CNN
reportedon the discovery of asbestos in crayons and other toys imported from —
again — China.

It’s another reminder that parenting requires constant vigilance — even
from the most unexpected places.